Narrating Unemployment

Douglas Ezzy PhD, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia. Teaches sociology in the school of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Tasmania.

• Contents: Introduction; Unemployment and mental health: a critical review; A narrative theory of unemployment; Job loss as a romance; Job loss as a tragedy; Tragic unemployment; Complex job loss; Unemployment and the meaning of working; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

'...this book makes a valuable contribution to the unemployment literature on both theoretical and empirical grounds, providing a wealth of insights into the lived experience of unemployment. It also adds weight to research using biographical and narrative data to explore the experiential dimensions of social disadvantage.' Network (Newsletter of the British Sociological Association) 'This book is useful and informative, providing some very interesting and insightful narratives that assist in understanding the positive and negative experiences of job loss...I am sure this book will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in an occupational perspective of employment and unemployment.' Journal of Occupational Science 'Read this book, not because it will provide you with radically new insights into the experience of being unemployed, but because it reveals that although the narratives through which the unemployed processually construct and re-construct their life-stories are, as yet, largely unexplored, the route to this exciting territory has been sign-posted.' Journal of Industrial Relations